TRANSPORTATION MEASURES WOULD BE MORE EQUITABLE THAN CURRENT DEAL
South Florida motorists soon may be justified in feeling a little less short-changed every time they fill their tanks with gasoline.
The comprehensive surface transportation bill passed last week by the U.S. Senate would give Florida the best return on its investment in federal gasoline taxes it has experienced in 42 years.
The $214 billion legislation to cover the nation's roadbuilding and mass-transit projects for the next six years would return to Florida an average of nearly $1.2 billion a year, or about $500 million more than it would have received under the prior funding formula that expired last year.
The new bill's funding breakdown is $173 billion for highway building, $41.3 billion for mass transit and $2 billion for transportation safety, an increase of 38 percent over the previous six-year Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA).
Under the old system, Florida and its fellow 17 "donor states" got back less than 80 percent of the money they sent to Washington in federal gas taxes.
The new deal guarantees that each state will receive at least 91 percent of its contributions, overdue recognition for fast-growing states such as Florida, California and Texas.
The House of Representatives is considering a bill to spend $217 billion on transportation with approximately the same priorities as the Senate version. Although the two bills propose up to $35 billion in new spending, leaders of both houses believe that goal can be accomplished without jeopardizing balanced-budget and deficit-reduction agreements.
While Florida's share of the federal transportation pot figures to rise from about $773 million a year to $1.2 billion, the state still will be far short of the funds it is projected to need over the next 20 years.
Even so, the Senate's action is a welcome and promising step toward redressing a funding inequity that has endured for more than four decades.